Divergent Technologies has announced on April 25, 2022 that it has completed its Series C with a total amount of US$160 million (approximately RMB 1.05 billion).
financing
. The new financing will enable the company to commercialize its fully integrated platform, DAPS. Combining generative design, additive manufacturing and automated assembly, Divergent Technologies claims that DAPS can expand its business while also meeting the growing technological demands of automotive OEMs for digital production design and automotive structural production.
Divergent plans to expand its manufacturing facilities and plans to begin construction of DAPS plants in Europe and the United States in 2024. The company is currently developing eight initial OEM brands, and its vehicle structure plans to produce hundreds to thousands of models throughout the model production cycle, with the first planned to enter production this year. Divergent’s ultimate vision is to build a global network of DAPS factories to drive globally distributed innovation in circular economy manufacturing systems.
After completing the Series C financing, Divergent has raised about $200 million (about 1.3 billion RMB) to date, and the previous
invest
Backers include Horizons Ventures and Altran Technologies. This time, backers include American businessman Tom Steyer and longtime stakeholder John L. Thornton, who is also a former Goldman Sachs president, BarrickGold executive chairman and Ford board member.
As part of the financing transaction, Thornton will join Czinger’s board of directors, using his automotive experience to guide the industrialization of DAPS. At the same time, Steyer believes that the expansion of DAPS can leverage its sustainability benefits and help accelerate the adoption of zero-emission vehicles (ZEVs).
In 2018, Divergent worked with
SLM Solutions
A Hong Kong-based company backed by Li Ka-shing to build a factory in Shanghai to start production (WE Solutions) to produce for China’s taxi and ride-hailing companies3D printingcar. But the most high-profile application of DAPS to date is undoubtedly the “21C,” developed by Czinger’s other business, Czinger Vehicles. Powered by two electric motors and a 2.88-liter V8, the outgoing supercar is capable of sprinting from 0 to 62 mph in 1.9 seconds.
and traditional automakers tend to use3D printingInstead of making non-critical components such as the interior, Czinger Vehicles has used it to produce the 21C’s structural elements. The vehicle is said to feature several 3D printed parts made by SLM Solutions, including an Inconel exhaust system strong enough to withstand the vehicle’s high speeds.
Divergent’s Adaptive Production System
Although Divergent Technologies hasn’t disclosed much detailed technical information about DAPS, company founder Kevin Czinger revealed at the 2022 Additive Manufacturing User Group (AMUG) conference that DAPS uses a data-driven approach to design and build vehicle structures that fundamentally change the economics and environmental impact of vehicle manufacturing. DAPS can design, print and assemble fully optimized automotive structures at industrial speeds, he said, seeking to advance the transition from existing analog tooling and stamping methods to automotive and fully digital manufacturing. And believes that DAPS represents the culmination of this production technology, as well as a new business model – de-factory car manufacturing.
The technical team of DAPS consists of more than 180 engineers and scientists distributed in four technical departments: Structural,
software
(HPC, GD and AI), additive manufacturing (hardware, software and materials) and automation (software, optics and robotics). The introduction of additive manufacturing (AM, 3D printing) has increased the efficiency and reduced waste of the automotive manufacturing process. Replace traditional structural design and production processes (the latter relying on traditional software, vehicle architecture, tools and related factory assets). The company claims that DAPS’ in-house developed software-hardware stack, with over 500 patent applications across the system, enables low- and high-volume manufacturing without expensive tooling and capital expenditure, enabling manufacturers to operate anywhere in the world Quickly iterate and invent new product models.
although3D printing technologyThe introduction of DAPS could make DAPS less wasteful and more economical to build cars, but Kevin Czinger also clarified ahead of the AMUG 2022 keynote that the technology represents a leap forward as simply “from the use of Selectric typewriters to Macs.” It is understood that Divergent Technologies did not adopt the existing 3D printing model, but started from scratch with digital manufacturing as a whole system. According to Czinger, by studying the existing capital, materials,
energy
With inefficiencies and design constraints, they built a complete end-to-end digital manufacturing system of which additive manufacturing was just one of the subsystems integrated.
Such a highly integrated system concept has aroused the curiosity of Antarctic bears. Maybe in the near future,3D printing technologyIt will be combined in a more intelligent, highly integrated, digital production platform with another face. It is likely to be accompanied by a “big innovation” in the field of automobile manufacturing, let us look forward to it!
(responsible editor: admin)
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